part of what separates good action movies from bad ones is how they handle the ridiculous stunts. they can't just show the stunt and call it a day, they have to make you believe in the stunt. you have to have faith in the characters and you have to want that stunt to be real. it's gotta be implausible (because that's what makes it exciting) but the characters have to believe it was impossible.

hence, the bus jump in the movie speed works, because it is such a great movie with strong characters, and you want those characters to survive, even though they think they're going to die. same with the roof jump in the movie die hard; bruce willis thinks he's going to die, but the audience likes him so much that they want him to do the impossible. some of the more outrageous stunts in the mission impossible movies work as well, because tom cruise doesn't make it look easy, he really makes the audience believe in his character.

it's also why movies like the a-team and the transporter films aren't good movies. they're fun and entertaining, sure, but the stunts are too over the top and we don't actually have faith in the characters. the falling tank scene in a-team was absurd and the characters didn't even seemed fazed by it, they just went along for the ride. and jason statham acts as if he planned all those idiotic stunts in the transporter movies, which we know would never work like that. most of the stunts in the resident evil movies are like that too because the characters are so flat and uninteresting, the stunts never engage us.

Frederick:Ok, maybe I didnt quite understand the concept; but how did the hide-in-a-refrigerator-to-avoid-nuclear-explosion from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull not make the list?

At least exiting a flying plane in an inflatable raft is more plausible than the refrigerator nuclear blast ride. But I agree, that even though it was a 1 man escape scene, it is still a stunt and should always be #1 since it #2'ed on the audience.

drewsclues:Frederick: Ok, maybe I didnt quite understand the concept; but how did the hide-in-a-refrigerator-to-avoid-nuclear-explosion from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull not make the list?

The plane bit from "Commando" was nice. But I always thought it was pretty amazing when Arnold and Rae Dawn Chong hit the tree head on, at full speed, in that little car, wearing no seatbelts, no driver seat at all for Rae Dawn, and they still are able to remain seated without ejecting through the windshield! And instantly, Arnold asks her "Are you alright?". Not even an "Ouch". That's the shiat , right there.

3StratMan:The plane bit from "Commando" was nice. But I always thought it was pretty amazing when Arnold and Rae Dawn Chong hit the tree head on, at full speed, in that little car, wearing no seatbelts, no driver seat at all for Rae Dawn, and they still are able to remain seated without ejecting through the windshield! And instantly, Arnold asks her "Are you alright?". Not even an "Ouch". That's the shiat , right there.

Any of you see that terrifying pile of liquid rhino shiat called Torque?

The final scene at least needs an honorable mention.

Guy 1 takes off on a modified Harley capable of speeds in excess of 200 m.p.h. (at least that is what they tell us). And by "takes off on" I mean he goes from zero-to-100+ in a 2 or 3 seconds and starts driving through downtown Los Angeles at ludicrous (heh, I made a Spaceballs reference) speed weaving through cars.

Guy 2 - who needs the sprocket off the Harley to prove he isn't a murderer - takes off after him on a Y2k (a turbine-powered motorcycle) also cracking the 200 m.p.h. barrier. We know he's going fast because the wake turbulence caused by his bike is sufficient to shatter car windows, tear off clothing from women and cause parking meters to explode. No part of that previous sentence is hyperbole on my part.

So they are weaving through heavy city traffic at 200 m.p.h. and Harley guy manages to face backwards and shoot a pistol round into the fuel tank of the Y2K. It starts leaking a trail of fuel (a la Die Hard 2) as the chase continues. The fuel trail ignites and is capable of burn rates in excess of 200 m.p.h. as it quickly catches up to the Y2K.

What to do? What to do?

Fortunately for Y2K guy, some flat-bed truck has conveniently parked on the street with its ramp fully tilted. He hits it, launches into the air and lands on top of Harley guy just as both bikes explode in a giant fireball and start sliding in a tangled, molten mass down the busy LA street. Y2K guy is sort of surfing this whole motorcycle explosion, still traveling at over 100 m.p.h, while trying to yank the Harley sprocket free. At the last possible moment, the motorcycles explode again, throwing Y2K hundreds of feet away. He lands in the street and almost gets crushed by an oncoming bus. Almost. Oh yeah...he also has the Harley sprocket in his hand.

There is no one inside the Zorb when it goes down the cliff. Jackie is inside of it while its rolling down the hills and over the small cliffs, but its empty when it drops down the face of the 800 foot tall monster cliff. And you can see the Zorb pop and deflate after falling about 400 feet, then it cuts to Jackie in the Zorb rolling out from behind some trees.

If it were plausible for someone to ride a Zorb down a sheer cliff face for hundreds of feet, we'd have close ups of Jackie inside it as it went down the cliff. He's not inside it because anyone inside that thing when they droped if off the cliff is 100% dead.

When I saw Goldeneye in the theater, about half of the crowd laughed during the plane jump scene. It was that ridiculous. Rest of it was pretty good, though. It was good when he was James Bond and not Charles Bronson.

ShamWowofDamocles:Any of you see that terrifying pile of liquid rhino shiat called Torque?

The final scene at least needs an honorable mention.

Guy 1 takes off on a modified Harley capable of speeds in excess of 200 m.p.h. (at least that is what they tell us). And by "takes off on" I mean he goes from zero-to-100+ in a 2 or 3 seconds and starts driving through downtown Los Angeles at ludicrous (heh, I made a Spaceballs reference) speed weaving through cars.

Guy 2 - who needs the sprocket off the Harley to prove he isn't a murderer - takes off after him on a Y2k (a turbine-powered motorcycle) also cracking the 200 m.p.h. barrier. We know he's going fast because the wake turbulence caused by his bike is sufficient to shatter car windows, tear off clothing from women and cause parking meters to explode. No part of that previous sentence is hyperbole on my part.

So they are weaving through heavy city traffic at 200 m.p.h. and Harley guy manages to face backwards and shoot a pistol round into the fuel tank of the Y2K. It starts leaking a trail of fuel (a la Die Hard 2) as the chase continues. The fuel trail ignites and is capable of burn rates in excess of 200 m.p.h. as it quickly catches up to the Y2K.

What to do? What to do?

Fortunately for Y2K guy, some flat-bed truck has conveniently parked on the street with its ramp fully tilted. He hits it, launches into the air and lands on top of Harley guy just as both bikes explode in a giant fireball and start sliding in a tangled, molten mass down the busy LA street. Y2K guy is sort of surfing this whole motorcycle explosion, still traveling at over 100 m.p.h, while trying to yank the Harley sprocket free. At the last possible moment, the motorcycles explode again, throwing Y2K hundreds of feet away. He lands in the street and almost gets crushed by an oncoming bus. Almost. Oh yeah...he also has the Harley sprocket in his hand.

Did I mention that neither rider was wearing a helmet?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eniqE8Yi4 ...

Torque is my all time favorite bad movie.. it goes WAY deeper than the impossible physics.from the insane product-placement-motorcycle-girl-fight, to the bad dialogue, to the Dane Cook cameo.